Actavis at the Friday night dump

November 15, 2013

So far this year, Actavis, the global drug maker that two months ago, completed its acquisition of Warner Chilcott, has issued 75 press releases on all sorts of things. But here’s something we’re still waiting to see in a press release: the 8-K that the company filed last Friday, Nov. 8, at just after 5 pm est.

But don’t worry. We’re not holding our collective breath.

Judging by the filing, Actavis seems to have a problem convincing its top executives to stick around. The solution? Money. And lots of it. As the filing notes, CEO Paul Bisaro will receive a $5 million “retention bonus” if he stick around for another two years and two months. If he only makes it to Jan. 1, 2015, he’ll only collect a mere $2.5 million. Last year, according to Actavis’ proxy, Bisaro made $1.2 million in base salary and another $1.2 million in bonus, so the $5 million represents a pretty generous gift. Bisaro has also received about $4 million over the past few years in stock awards.

While Bisaro is set to receive the most, Actavis’ four other top executives don’t too badly either: President Siggi Olafsson stands to receive a $4 million retention bonus and Robert Stewart, President of Global Operations, is in line for a $3 million retention bonus. The CFO and the Chief Legal Officer each will get $1 million, provided they stick around to Jan. 1, 2016.

While the filing notes that the retention bonuses range in size from $200,000 to $5 million, the filing provides no additional details on who else is in line to collect the retention bonuses.

We’ve poked at retention awards quite a bit over the past 10 years because they seem to be an excuse to gift money, rather than an actual retention device. But at $14 million in retention bonuses for just five executives, these seem particularly poke-worthy. No wonder this was filed after 5 pm on a Friday.